Greeks could go to the polls again in a month, to the satisfaction of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. After last weekend’s elections, the parties were unable to form a new government.
Mitsotakis’ New Democracy (New Democracy) party won a solid election victory Sunday, but lost enough seats to achieve an outright majority. Mitsotakis is convinced this will work in a second round of voting.
The prime minister could try to form a coalition, but Mitsotakis would prefer to rule alone. Leader Alexis Tsipras of the left-wing opposition party Syriza, who came in second, also refrained from working with New Demokratia.
The Greek elections were different than usual because of a new election law. Previously, the winning party received a bonus of fifty seats, so that party rarely had to govern through a coalition. This bonus, set by Mitsotakis, is in the second round. The winning party then gets between twenty and fifty seats, depending on the outcome.
The second round will take place on June 25. Until then, he will take over as acting prime minister, who will temporarily rule the country.